Archaeology Notes

Event ID 654267

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/654267

ND34NE 2 36921 48834

(ND 3692 4883) Castle of Old Wick (NR) (Remains of)

Moat (NR) (Remains of)

Lord Oliphant's Leap (NAT)

Castle Walk (NAT)

OS 6" map, Caithness, 1st ed., (1872)

Old Man of Wick

(NAT). Castle (NR) (remains of) (no detail shown).

OS 6"map, (1970)

Location formerly entered as ND 3692 4883.

The Castle of Old Wick, by sailors called the Aul' Man o' Wick (NSA 1845) (but see ND34NE 12) is a plain, rectangular keep set near the landward end of a 100 yds long narrow promontory; and is flanked by 100 ft high cliffs and fronted by a 'moat'. An outer rampart crosses the landward end of the promontory.

The keep stands to a height of 25 to 30 ft and measures 24 ft by 16 ft 3 ins within walls 7 ft thick. It has consisted of three storeys and a basement, all unvaulted; the doorway has been in the seaward-facing NE wall, probably at first floor level. Each floor has had a window in the SE wall, and on the second floor a single aperture overlooks the landward approach. In the S corner the wall is riven and bulging.

The low outer rampart has crossed the promontory about 30 yds from the keep. In rear of it, on either side of the approach, is the foundation of a small rectangular building.

The rock-cut 'moat', 30 ft wide and 10 ft deep, adjoins the keep and may have been crossed by a drawbridge. It is known as "Lord Oliphant's Leap". To the rear of the keep two rows of building foundations flank a roadway, 174 ft long, running along the centre of the promontory to an open area, 70 ft by 47 ft, at the tip, which is said to have been the castle garden, and is now known as Castle Walk. The whole appears at one time to have been enclosed by a wall. Small portions of the foundation can still be traced round the cliff-top (Name Book 1872). Steps lead down to the sea (NSA 1845).

Previously considered to be probably 14th century, the keep is now ascribed to the 12th century by both MacKie (E W MacKie 1975) and Lamb (R G Lamb 1980), the latter comparing it with towers in Orkney and Scandinavia, a diagnostic feature being its standing to one side of the approach rather than forming a gate-house as in later medieval castles. The first known owner of the property was Reginald Cheyne in the mid 14th century. Thereafter it passed by marriage to the Sutherlands in the 14th century, then to the Oliphants in the 15th century. It came to the Sinclairs in 1644, then to Lord Glenorchy, who sold it in 1690 to the Dunbars of Hempriggs, with whom it remained in 1910.

New Statistical Account (NSA, C Thomson, written 1841) 1845; Name Book 1872; RCAHMS 1911, visited 1910; E W MacKie 1975; R G Lamb 1980.

The remains of the Castle of Old Wick, its outbuildings and rock-cut ditch, are generally as described.

Published survey (1:2500) revised.

Visited by OS (W D J) 22 April 1963.

'Castle of Old Wick' (SDD nameplate) is as described by the previous authorities, and is now under guardianship. Steps lead seaward from Castle Walk, but the sea is inaccessible. The name 'Old Man of Wick' published by OS is erroneous, and probably confused with an unlocated natural feature in the vicinity (see ND34NE 12).

Revised at 1:2500.

Visited by OS (N K B) 17 January 1983.